Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as diapers and other absorbent articles, may be assembled by adding components to and/or otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. In some cases, individual components created from advancing webs are combined with other individual components created from other advancing webs. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist bands, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, fastening components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing webs and component parts are subjected to a final cut to separate the webs into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
In some processes, a continuous length of diaper chassis advancing in a machine direction is cut into discrete chassis and combined with continuous lengths of elastically extendable front and back waistband webs advancing in the machine direction. In some cutting processes, the continuous length of chassis is advanced onto a rotating cutting roll and cut into discrete chassis. In some processes, the discrete chassis may be transferred from the cutting roll to a transfer apparatus. The transfer apparatus may reorient the discrete chassis prior to joining the discrete chassis with the continuous lengths of first and second waistband webs. The transfer apparatus may be located adjacent to the cutting roll so as to form a gap there between.
Various defective operating conditions may cause the continuous length of chassis web to be incompletely cut by the cutting roll. For example, the cutting roll may become dull, the chassis web may slip, or the chassis web may stick to the cutting roll during the cutting process. As such, the continuous length of chassis web may fail to transfer to the transfer apparatus, and, instead, may wrap around the cutting roll. As the continuous length of chassis web wraps around the cutting roll, the continuous length of chassis web expands radially around the cutting roll and fills the gap between the cutting roll and the transfer apparatus. The radially expanding wrapped chassis may undesirably contact and apply reactive forces to the transfer apparatus and the cutting roll. Consequently, if the converting apparatus is not promptly shut down, the cutting roll and/or adjacent equipment may be damaged.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a process and apparatus for preventing damage to a cutting roll and/or adjacent equipment if a defective operating condition occurs during a cutting process.